Hippo Team
Hippo Team (カバさんチーム Kaba-san Chīmu) is one of the teams involved in Girls und Panzer. Background Hippo team consists of history buffs or Reki-jo from Ooarai Girls High School. The team operates a German StuG III, which they found on the bottom of a lake. They first painted it with multiple colors, making it look flamboyant and they added some banners on its engine deck. 'About Sturmgeschütz III Ausf.F' The Sturmgeschütz III is a German assault tank with a powerful 75 mm gun; while its gun has limited traverse, its low silhouette makes it ideal for ambushes. 'Against St. Gloriana' During the practice match against St. Gloriana Girls High School, Hippo Team managed to ambush and take out a St. Gloriana Matilda tank on a narrow road; however, they were hit soon after, as the height of their banners gave away their position from behind a fence, negating the advantage provided by the tank's low silhouette. 'Sensha-dou Competition' Before the Sensha-dou competition, the Hippo Team repainted their tank German Grey (Feldgrau) and added the image of a Hippo. 'Against Saunders' During the match against Saunders Girls High School, Hippo Team managed to ambush and destroy one of Saunders' two M4 Sherman tanks that had been lured by Duck Team. Erwin and Caesar can be seen with stunned expressions at the end of the match, after seeing Hana take out the Saunders flag tank from a long range. Against Anzio In the manga, Hippo Team served as the flag tank. In the OVA, Hippo Team was supposed to deal with Anzio's flag tank, but it was instead drawn into a one-vs-one duel against a Semovente da 75/18 (commanded by Caesar's childhood friend Carpaccio), which, despite the StuG's edge in firepower and protection, ended in a draw, with both tanks taking out each other. 'Against Pravda' During the semi-final round match against Pravda Girls High School, Hippo Team's role was to hunt the Pravda flag tank; prior to the match they replaced their tracks with "winterketten" to make the tank more maneuverable on thick snow. Hippo Team managed to take out Pravda's T-34/76 flag tank after a lenghty chase by hiding under snow and waiting for it to come close enough. 'Against Kuromorimine' During the final round match against Kuromorimine Girls High School, the Ooarai tanks managed to survive the initial attack by Kuromorimine, and they gathered on top of a hill and exchanged shots with Kuromorimine, later successfully executing a breakthrough. After that, they were lured by a lone Panzer III Ausf.J of Kuromorimine into a trap set by a super heavy Maus tank into the city. The Maus managed to take out Mallard Team and Hippo Team with its fearsome firepower. In the end, however, Ooarai managed to take out Kuromorimine's flag tank commanded by Maho Nishizumi and thus to win both the match and the championship. Members The Hippo Team consists of four history buffs from Ooarai Girls High School. 'Erwin (Riko Matsumoto)' ' 'Main Article ''Erwin :Commander of the team. Her name comes from Field Marshal Erwin Rommel a.k.a. "The Desert Fox" who was a German tank commander in Africa during World War II. She is usually seen wearing a peaked cap and a full field jacket. She wanted to paint Hippo Team's StuG III the colors of the Afrika Korps. 'Caesar (Takako Suzuki) :Main Article Caesar The loader and co-commander of the team. Her nickname comes from the Roman general and statesman Julius Caesar. '''Saemonza (Kiyomi Sugiyama) :Main Article Saemonza The gunner of the team. 'Oryou (Takeko Nogami)' :Main Article Oryou The driver of the team. Her nickname comes from Narasaki Ryou Triva - Their team has the most powerful armed tank until the introduction of long 75mm KwK 40 for the panzer IV used by Anglerfish right before the match against Pravda. - The Hippo team was the only tank immobilised during the match with the Anzio High School, defeated by a Semovente da 75/18 tank. Gallery HippoTeam01.jpg|The girls from the Hippo Team. mplayerc 2012-11-28 15-47-57-03.jpg|The girls from the Hippo Team. Mplayerc_2012-12-05_20-54-41-34.jpg|The girls from the Hippo Team during the Anime Opening Song. mplayerc 2012-11-28 15-48-31-71.jpg|Hippo Team's StuG. III Ausf.F with it's flamboyant paint scheme. HippoTeamStuGIII01.jpg|Hippo Team's StuG. III Ausf.F with it's second paint scheme. HippoTeamStuGIII02.jpg|Hippo Team's StuG. III Ausf.F with it's winter paint scheme and with winterketten track links. Category:Teams